Pumpkin Farm/Circus

I took him there when he was little.
Back then a Pumpkin Farm was just that - a farm that had pumpkins. Your picture was taken with a pumpkin totem pole.

Bryan and Carrie '81

 

Going to Goebberts with Bryan and his family was mind boggling to me. They had acres of fun for Roger and 3 tents full of animals to feed. Should be called a pumpkin circus.

 

We met them at 9:00 when it opens. First stop the giraffes. You walked a tall ramp to get to eye level and a slide was provided for the kids to get down.

 On to the animal tents. I bought some carrots and helped Roger feed the animals. He was very good at putting the food on the shovels provided and stuff  it through the fence.

 He could NOT take his eyes off the pumpkin eating dinosaur (even for a picture). I am not sure he had figured out if it was coming after him or not.

 

 

We by passed the pony and camel rides and went for the playground. He posed with Papa at the barn.

He ran from tractor, to truck, to fire truck, to big wheel.
 Roger wasn't to happy when the wheel on this truck wouldn't turn. He yelled to Bryan to "Make it Work" Tim Gunn project runway style.

 Final stop a family picture on the giant rocking chair. Luke spent the whole morning in the Bjorn laughing, and smiling at all the happenings.



What a great day.

Word Snobs

I hate them!
Who are they you might ask - They are the ones who use big words just to inflate their egos.
Now granted I am not a writer or a word nerd. I shy away from Crosswords puzzles, but I can carry on a conversation without the other person feeling stupid.

I used to work with a Editor who wrote a weekly column. He was a big Word Snob. He always used words that I would have to look up to understand their meaning. He sometimes tried to talk to me and use them, but my eyes would glass over and he knew he had lost me.

This morning reading the Letters to the Editor in the paper I thought for sure Mike wrote this one letter.

"this president's feckless, vacuous foreign policy borne of his malignant, narcissism unquestionably compromises...."

"enemies stand dramatically emboldened and ominous.."

"your predictably clever talking points, disingenuous rhetoric reveals you abject shallowness and self-serving commitment to endless spoils of political longevity."

"American untainted by the elixir of Beltway celebrity."
And he goes on and on using word that only makes me wonder what this letter actually means, because I really had no idea.

Oft-demonized, ever-besmirched, demagoguery, supplanted,  eternal vigilance.....

Call me stupid, but Enough already - I know you are using English, but I don't understand you!

Corn Maze

Mike and I have never been through a corn maze so when Stacy invited us to join them we jumped at the invite. 
There were 2 mazes a small one for $4, but for $7 you could do both the big and the small. We wanted both. They gave you a clipboard with an answer sheet to questions hidden along the paths.
Off we go!
We split into 2 groups. Dylan and I went one way and all the rest went the other. We found 2 questions and they found 2. We regrouped and decided to head over to the bigger maze and stumbled onto the last question. The maze was off a shark eating a fish - all cartoon questions. Pretty easy.

The bigger maze was of a sea turtle. Girls went one way and the boys the other.
You had to answer 6 nautical questions. You had a choice of 2 answers and use that letter to scramble and make an answer to this question. What is the Latin word for fish? Smart Logan knew the answer without the letters.

The rules said to Stay on the Path - well it didn't take Kaylyn long to make her own way.

 But her short cut lead to another question. We kinda cheated because if we didn't know the answer to the question we wrote down both letters.

 I had an awesome time. The weather was cool. The corn was so tall and spooky. And we had to whole place all to ourselves.

 The pumpkins was a little pricey so after lunch Stacy and the kids followed us home to the pumpkin farm by our house. Dylan liked all the gourds. Me I was fascinated with the color of the Indian corn. I thought my next quilt would be of the colors we saw in new England, but I just might have to blend in some colors of the corn.

 I full wagon for only $20. It was well worth the trip.

Buy It or Build It

We got home from vacation and I went to turn the furnace on to get the chill out of the house and no go. The furnace was not working, so I made a fire.

The next morning I called the furnace guy and he came out and found a dead chipmunk wrapped around the fan blade. Ouch!
Chipmunks have taken over our yard this year. Under both the front and back decks and numerous holes around the house. Annoying and loud! A few strategically placed (can't have the stray cats finding them) poison traps and most have gone away. Good Riddance! One must have found the furnace flew and climbed in. Sorry - now he gone...

I think it's almost time for making fires. Yay!!! Time to get my stack of firewood back on the deck.
One problem - I burned my old holder that Mike had made me. I needed a new one.

He is at Menards scoping things out and I get a text with a picture of a metal rack.
Do you want me to buy this or do you want me to build you one?

Wow - I'm thinking just like the HGTV show, Love it or List it! I love that show, but I do find myself yelling at them to just do the basic - I don't need you to buy me a $1900 bed spread, $200 towels or $80 pillows. I can decorate it myself. Thank You!



So are we going to Buy It or Build It?
Buy it - metal, right size?, holds up longer than wood. MONEY!

Build it - Mike likes building stuff, it would fit perfectly on the deck. CHEAPER!

I did not even hesitate with my answer.

BUY IT!!

 

Surprised a few people with that answer I am sure.
Now I am ready for the chilly nights.

Exercise

After spending 4 out of 8 days of our vacation more or less sitting in a car traveling, We decided that we needed to get some exercise. I am not counting the short hikes to Echo lake and Cathedral Ledge today.

Our Inn has a hiking trail right next door.

We were all over that.
1 mile down hill. Really Down Hill.

 But this was at the bottom. Mike climbed out on the gorge river bottom. I did NOT. The trip back up hill was brutal. I was beginning to think that exercise is over rated.

 But then we saw the sign for the falls the other way and that was only 1/2 mile so off we go. Much smoother walking.

 

I didn't feel so bad trying out the VT local beer at dinner. 

Hey Carrie!

I looked!
I tried very hard, but I didn't find Pine Tree VT. But I did find A Pine Tree IN Vermont. Does that count?

 No Columbia Inn either - we had to settle for this Quality Inn in Quechee, VT.

But our room is just like the little cottages. I am headed out later for some Buttermilk. I hope I find a Bing to sing to me. They even have a fireplace in the lobby. Cross your fingers for me.

Foliage Tour

Mike and I were both looking forward to the trip up through Maine and into the White Mountains in NH.
Mike has been studying maps and planning this portion of our trip for weeks. No expressways for us.

You get to a point when you run out of adequate words to describe the colors up here. They all fit.

 It's beautiful from every angle. The sun came in and out all day so my picture do not do it justice, but I managed to get a few keepers.

 

Echo Lake.

 

On Cathedral ledge.

While we were there a girl showed up with her climbing gear. Pounded a spike in the rock and climbed over the edge. Are you crazy?! I was glad there was a fence there.

We stopped a few times for picture ops. Mike digging out his knee brace for a hike down this trail.

 Mike caught me resting on a rock.

We stopped for the night in Vermont.

Time in New England

Mike and I took off Thursday morning to visit New England. Steve worked.
We stopped in Newport RI and picked out our summer home. HA! The houses here are so stupidly big.

We couldn't come all this way without a stop in Boston. We visited Fenway. They were all busy trying to get it ready for the playoffs.

 I had to get a picture of the bridge from Rizzoli and Isle. Love that Show!

 A stop in Boston Harbor. I had to take this picture of the U.S.S. Constitution through the fence. Government closed it so we couldn't get any closer!

 On to Salem, MA. We stopped at a "Triple D" favorite. The Lobster Shanty. The weather was perfect and we sat outside.

Mike of course had to have the Mac n Cheese with Lobster. He shared- Sooooo Good. I had the Lobster roll.
 Lobster on the east coast. Can check that off our list.
BTW - I am loving all the "local" beers.

 

 



Vacation Fun

We have been having fun, fun, fun on our vacation.
We started working with Steve on his house. Mike and I both enjoy home improvements!
Mike taking down the dated track lighting and replacing it with cool pendant lights.

 Steve and I took on the back splash. That was after we painted the new color.
 I measured. Steve cut using the wet saw. I put the tiles in place. Great Team Work!

 Steve waited patiently for my cutting instructions. Did you all notice the matching t-shirts. Team Elgin Masters! (leftovers from Mike's Monday night team) I am now planning on putting some tiles up in MY kitchen.

Wednesday we took Steve's train into the big city. I get why he enjoys his commute now. A 10 minute ride to the station and a hour train ride, a quick transfer in NJ, we were 3 blocks from his place of work with no traffic or parking hassles. Smooth.

The city is still crowded with rude people, loud, and very smelly but all that was forgotten because...
 Steve treated us to this Musical. I laughed. I cried. I screamed out. When it was over I jumped up and cheered. It was THAT good. Tickets in the 5th row. He sure knows how to spoil us. LOVED IT!! No wonder it won so many Tony's.